The God Of After

0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:06.280 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.360 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:10.000 Be sure to. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:13.720 Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:22.160 I hope you're blessed today right now online. 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.320 If you're joining us as a part of our efam, 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.000 put in the chat where you're joining us from. We 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.160 have been in a flow in the church and God 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:32.400 has been speaking to us the last few weeks. 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:34.199 Well, he's been speaking to me. 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.880 And I learned a long time ago just to stay 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.280 in the flow with the Holy Spirit and as long 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:42.960 as he would. And so I'm going to stay in 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.880 the same flow that I've been in the last few 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.320 weeks and continue with the scripture that I love in 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.159 one Peter, first Peter, chapter five, and I'm going to 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.400 pick up in verse eight. I want you to go 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:58.560 back and read the whole chapter when you get home, 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:00.400 but I'm going to pick up in verse eight today 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:06.640 for the sake of time and give you this. We 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:11.040 have an instruction and a promise, And first comes the 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.800 instruction in verse eight verse Peter five eight, be alert 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:22.040 and of sober mind your enemy. The devil prowls around 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:29.640 like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.720 standing firm in the faith because you know that the 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:36.880 family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:39.440 kind of sufferings. 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.360 This is the verse that I want us to really 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:44.280 think about today. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:49.920 And the God of all Grace, who called you to 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:54.440 his eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:59.400 little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:02.680 firm and steadfast. 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:06.600 And that good. 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.839 Let's read it again, that verse and the God of 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.560 all Grace. The first week we talked about the God 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:22.840 of also, and then we talked about the God of again, 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.480 and we talked about last week the God of Already 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:31.400 I'm still not over that message. I'm still not over 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:35.079 that message. But today I thought we would talk from 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.960 verse ten in verse Peter, where he said, and the 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:43.359 God of all Grace, who called you to his eternal 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:47.639 glory in Christ, after you've suffered a little while, will 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:54.600 himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.280 Can you guess my subject for today? And the God 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:04.080 of that we could do that too, but little bit later, 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:09.200 who called you to his eternal glory in Christ after 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.880 you have suffered a little while will himself restore you. 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:19.840 I want to talk about the God of After, the 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:20.560 God of After. 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:24.240 Would you join me in praying again? 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.560 Father, I thank you for each precious person that you 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:31.680 brought under the covering of your word. Today, in your 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.440 shadow most high, we find refuge and strength and safety. 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:37.800 I prayed that this could be a place of safety, 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.000 a place of strength for everybody who needs your voice 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.000 today in a specific way in their life. 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.280 Hit the target. Holy Spirit, I offer you. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.120 All of me, and I asked that you would make 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.960 up the difference what they need and what I know. 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.960 There's a really really wide chasm between the two, but 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.160 not for you. You can speak to the exact thing 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.200 that they need. And I trust that you will, and 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:07.600 that you already are. In Jesus' name, Amen, you may 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:14.280 be seated the God of After. You ever had a 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:19.800 delayed reaction where you got the joke but it was 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.560 like too late to laugh without kind of looking kind 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:29.000 of bad. Or you get the perfect comeback for somebody, 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:32.040 but it's like three and a half hours later. 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.080 You can't exactly meet up with them and do it again. 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.760 I think sometimes the delayed reaction would be a good 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.520 thing in my life. A little space between what happens 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.760 and how I act wouldn't hurt that bad, you know, 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.559 sometimes because I'm quick on my feet. But that works 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:56.080 against me, because sometimes I'm quick on my feet, and 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.960 so I get myself into situations before I've had the 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.240 chance to think about them. And that's probably why I 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.000 love this scripture where Peter is saying, be alert and 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:09.320 sober minded and get ready for the devil, because he's 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:10.719 coming for you. 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.040 That's just the fact of it, you know. 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:16.520 And there is no amount of preaching in the world 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:21.000 that can prevent the enemy's attack. In your life specifically, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.960 there is a suffering that we all must endure. But 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.280 two things I want you to know about this suffering 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.920 before we get really into this message today, is that 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.880 Number one, this scripture suggests that whatever suffering you're going through, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:42.479 it's only for now. It's only for now. Say that 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.839 out loud, it's only for now. Put it in the chat, please, 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.120 it's only for now. Tell your neighbor it's only for now. 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.360 That's number one. And number two, it's not for nothing. 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.880 Did you feel that when I said it? Somebody's under 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:03.040 it a tact in this room right now? It was 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.880 a battle for you to even get to church because 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.240 of what you've been dealing with. And two things about 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:13.400 this suffering that the scripture says, it's only for now, 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:18.560 and it's not for nothing. It's a productive kind of suffering, 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:20.720 not the stupid kind of suffering that you do when 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.839 you're stubborn. You know, when you hit yourself with the 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.080 hammer and hit yourself with the hammer again and ask 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:27.560 God to take the swelling down. 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:29.880 But this is a. 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.560 Type of suffering that he's talking about that is common, 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.120 and that it's. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.239 Actually come for a reason. Now. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.680 One of the things that I was talking about last Wednesday. 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.279 I spoke to my staff Wednesday, and after I spoke 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.960 to the staff, I spoke to a smaller group of 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:55.080 like twenty of the top staff new staff, and I 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.600 had a conversation with a young lady because in the 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.599 staff teaching, I was talking about how you deal with 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.200 correction or specifically not fighting against things that God is 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.640 trying to sin to help you in your life, which 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.440 is something I struggle with. And so she had a 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.360 follow up question after the session that I did with 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.920 the staff. She said, well, when you're a fighter and 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:23.080 you're sitting there in the moment and somebody's like challenging 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.800 you or saying something that's really making you go crazy, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.120 and that fighter wants to rise up in you and 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.960 just fight back. How do you, in the moment receive 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:37.000 that interaction and really process it positively? 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:37.840 And I said, I don't. 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:44.880 I never process positively in the moment, almost never. 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:50.000 You don't either, But after. 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:55.520 After, you know, then that's usually where a lot of 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.360 my spiritual growth happens is after I screw it up 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.480 and the Holy Spirit shows me how you screwed that up? 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:04.520 Would you like to keep screwing that up? 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.280 Would you like to have me show you how to 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.440 stop screwing stuff up in your life? And I'm like, well, lord, 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.160 it just depends, like what am I gonna have to 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:13.120 do to stop screwing it up? 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:14.840 And I gonna have to go back and apologize. 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.920 And I want you to realize that spiritual growth is 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.320 not measured by perfection in the moment, but really on 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:26.160 your ability to go back after the fact and be 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:31.600 correctible by Christ so you don't get frustrated with yourself. 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.520 I told the staff member who asked me that, I said, 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:41.280 just yesterday, just yesterday, this guy honked at me, you 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.240 know where this is going, and with my elevation sticker 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:49.600 on my car, he hanked at me and he pulled 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.360 out in front of me. Let me set this up 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.360 for you, this fool. 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:55.840 This brother. 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:02.240 Figuring out who I'm talking to today when he pulls 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.160 out in front of me, I'm going to speed limit. 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.040 I'm doing nothing wrong. I mean nothing wrong. 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.120 I can't always say that on the road, but in 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:11.679 this particular instance. 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.600 He hanks it me and he pulled out in front 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:14.800 of me. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:21.240 So yes, I stopped the car, and yes. 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:28.120 I backed up, and yes, I said are you good? 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.320 But I smiled when I said it, and I kept 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.480 my voice really low, and he said are you good? 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.440 And I said, I don't know. That depends are you good? 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:42.040 Because if you're good, I'm good. But if you're not good, 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:42.360 you know. 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:46.120 Now you know. 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:47.680 I had to get all the way back to my 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:51.719 house and try to think what made me back up 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.800 and talk to this guy on the road like that. 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:55.760 I mean, this guy might be getting. 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:57.320 Baptized someday in my church. 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:02.199 I don't know this guy. He might be some special Forces. 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.520 He might have something in the glove box that will 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:09.079 make my last Sunday, my last Sunday preaching. 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:11.360 I don't know any of it. I don't even think 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:12.120 about it in the moment. 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.480 I think about all that after And then I tracked 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.520 back and I was like, why was I so tight? 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.760 Why couldn't I just laugh at this. 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:26.120 Blessed tool of the Lord for my sanctification and drive on. 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.600 I realized what we did right before that was take 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:35.400 family Christmas pictures. My wife has me taken the family 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.319 Christmas pictures now in August. 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.439 Of course I'm edgy. 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:45.080 Who wants to take family Christmas pictures even in December, 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:46.840 let alone in August. 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.080 Do you know all the fights. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.199 That we have been through in family Christmas pictures through 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:51.760 the years. 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:53.640 Of course I'm a little edgy. 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.839 So I'm bringing this up as a humorous example and 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.040 my own expense to show you how imature I can be. 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.200 But that I realized that something happened and before he 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:04.800 pulled out in front of me and hanked at me. 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.600 That made me back up in middle of the road 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:15.720 and act like I'm thirteen. And then sometimes in our 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:20.160 own lives, we never take the time after we act 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:20.920 a certain. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:27.640 Way to back up and ask the question, what was. 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.080 It that put me in that frame of mind to 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.720 act that way. So then we just repeat the behavior 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.200 over and over again, and the devil just picks our 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.160 lives apart because we never stopped to ask the question 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:39.360 after we. 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:40.640 Act away we don't want to act. I mean, that 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:41.600 could have gone much worse. 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:45.160 It was ended up being a pretty mild story in 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:49.319 my estimation of how it could have gone. But you know, 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.160 there are other things in my life that I look at, 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:56.000 like times when I am completely unreasonable, and I have 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:56.760 to go back. 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.000 Sometimes and say what was it before? 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:02.560 I think that's what Peter means when he says in 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:08.240 verse eight, put it back up, be alert, sober minded, 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:14.600 to recognize when the enemy attacks you where you are 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.959 most vulnerable to his attacks, because without asking that question, 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.440 you just kind of repeat the same stuff over and 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:26.760 over again. Some of my best growth moments in God 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:31.679 have been after my worst performance moments outside of God. 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.480 Where I go back and say, what was it? 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:38.120 You ever had something you did where you're like, well, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.439 I know, it wasn't that that made me act like that, 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.360 So what was it that made me act like that? 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.000 What was it that made me so irritated about something 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:51.360 that was so insignificant? Why did something so small, like 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:55.199 a pebble in my shoe cause me to walk so crooked? 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.559 And sometimes when you go back and you look at it, 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.320 you're like, Oh, yeah, that's what it was. I actually, 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.640 in the process of taking those Stanley pictures, I think 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:05.959 I was very stressed, and I think I was a 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.000 little sad because I'm sending my son off to college 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:10.160 next week, and I'm not going back on all of 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:15.200 this to blame it, but so that next time I 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:16.640 come up on it, I can beat it. 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.400 Can I teach this message today? 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.640 Sometimes when the enemy attacks you, you act like it 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.240 was a surprise attack. But if you would pay attention 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.400 to your own life, you could be ready for some 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:41.120 of the stuff that comes at you regularly. You can't 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:43.880 resist the devil that you're not ready for. 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.280 I'm just getting warmed up. I hadn't even got to 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:51.240 my good verse yet. 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.520 But he said be alert and sober minded or clear headed. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:01.559 One translation would say, because the devil, the enemy prowls 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:08.000 around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:12.000 So if he can eat you alive with anxiety, he 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:16.719 will because he's looking for his lunch. If he can 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.640 eat you alive with the fence, he will because he's 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:24.560 looking for his lunch. If he can eat you alive 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.080 with the memory of something that you did that God 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:32.880 has already forgiven, he will because he's looking for his lunch. 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:37.400 He is looking for someone who has not taken inventory 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.960 of their lives to go back and track the times 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.560 that you know what, it seems like the enemy always 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:50.280 attacks me here, and he always attacks me when. But 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.560 when you have an unreflective life, when you are just 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:59.400 reactive all the time, every attack that happens to you, 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.200 you are not re ready for You cannot resist it. 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.480 There is no readiness where there is no reflection. 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.800 I want to get better and better and better in 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.680 my life, not at blaming stuff that happened, but going like, hey, 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.120 what was it that put me in that state that. 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:21.320 I wasn't ready for that? 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.200 And how next time when I'm going into that situation, 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.360 can I be a little more ready for it. Sometimes 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:29.760 God will uncover really weird stuff for you like this. 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:31.880 I'll give you an example. When I get really hyped. 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:33.560 Up before I preach, it's a setup for me to 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.760 be disappointed if you're not hyped up when I start preaching. 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:40.800 But Here's what happened. I pulled into a private space today. 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.320 You had to drive through some traffic and people and 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.520 stuff like that. I didn't have to bring any kids 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.920 to church today. Holly did all that, So of course 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.280 I'm ready. I have to get anybody dressed, anybody in 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:53.880 the car on time. I didn't have anybody count for 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.200 but myself. The only person I had to make sure 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:58.680 had his clothes on and shoes on and showered. 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.600 Up was me. Oh, I'm in a good mood, but 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.760 what if you're not. So I realized that, like. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.240 I gotta be ready when I come out here to preach, 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:12.080 that you might not be ready to listen yet. Because 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.480 if I'm not, then when the discouragement comes, when I'm like, 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.200 oh no, they don't look like they're really into this. 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.360 Well they're into it, but it's just like a cold 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.280 plunge for them, like they just got to get settled 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.720 into it. Let him sit there a minute, you know, 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.120 I asked Scott one time, because when people yawn when 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:29.640 I'm preaching, that really sets me. 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.040 Off, like really sets me off. 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.600 If you ever notice in my sermon where I take 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.080 a sharp turn and it gets really really rough, all 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.800 of a sudden like really mean or like condemnation. I 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.280 start talk about hell and judgment and stuff like that, 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.800 I probably saw somebody yawn. That's probably what just happened. 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.080 And I remember something. Even this week, I was thinking 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.200 about this because in psychology they call it triggers, and 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.160 you know different things that it could be a smell, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:54.560 it could be a sight, it could be a sound, 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:56.440 It can be a lot of different things. But I 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.280 remembered that there was one boy when I was first 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.120 learning to teach the Bible, and he would full on yawn, 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:02.960 not like yon, like he was trying to hide. 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.240 It, but he would full on, stretch back yawn. His 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:07.920 shirt would stretch up over his belly. 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:09.800 I had to look at his belly, his open mouth 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.400 is opened abdomen and all this stuff. 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:14.680 And that was when I was first learning to preach. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:16.840 And I realized that that kid was right in front 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:18.639 of me when I was first learning to teach the Bible. 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.080 I'm not going to say his name, but he would 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.480 yawn while I was preaching the Bible. And so to 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.240 this day, if I see somebody y it actually sets 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.200 me in a place where I feel like a beginning 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:36.560 preacher isn't that weird? Or maybe I just need more therapy. 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:40.119 But even recognizing that, it gives me a moment to know, Oh, 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:45.760 that guy yawning, he might have worked third shift, he 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.280 might be tired because maybe he's visiting somebody in nursing, 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.280 or or he stayed up all night playing video games. 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.520 But it's not mine to judge. But if I recognize 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.639 that that puts me in a bad place, then I 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:05.520 can be ready watch this, to respond rather than to react, 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:12.480 and to resist the temptation before I attack, before I'm attacked. 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.360 Because faith does not give you the ability to prevent 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:17.919 the enemy's attack. 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:19.640 I wish it did. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.000 I wish that by faith we could rebuke every panic 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:27.359 attack in the room, every financial attack in the room, 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:29.880 every attack on your physical body in the room. 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.200 If I had the power to do it, I would 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.400 do it. I would love to do it for you. 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.919 But there is nothing in fir Peter five eight, or 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.679 any of the rest of the Bible that suggests that 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:45.360 at will we can just rebuke the devil's attack and prevent. 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:46.000 The devil's attack. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:51.000 But we can plan for what you're going to do 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:53.240 the next time he does attack. 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.880 That's why Peter called him a roaring lion. 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.600 Before he ever comes to devour you, there's always a roar. 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:08.919 Do you recognize him when he roars? 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.920 Or do we live lives that never reflect? 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.800 And say? Why do I keep ending up in this situation? 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:18.800 Why is the devil always picking on me? Why am 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.359 I always in this bad relational pattern? Why are people 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.600 always and here coming to my eight? Then? Why am 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.080 I never you know, it's always this thing of blaming 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:32.200 it or do we want to beat it and resist 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:37.840 it and get stronger from it. I think it would 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.800 be easier to resist temptation if the consequences were immediate 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:48.159 of the sin. I think that would be really easy 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:53.480 to resist. I think even overeating if the bad stuff 0:19:53.480 --> 0:20:01.360 happened while you ate. No, I'm serious, if if if 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:07.440 if the cellulite grew as you chewed, you stop chewing. 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:12.439 You are noticed. 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:19.960 How the benefits of discipline are delayed and the payoffs 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:27.359 of donuts are immediate. I mean a quick, sweet relief, 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:34.359 a glazed relief. And I'm getting hungry, y'all. 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:35.879 I fast before I preach. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:41.080 But but there's there's there's there is a hidden expense 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:48.720 to sin and a quick hit for sin, and there 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:53.520 is a hidden benefit of discipline that doesn't. 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.359 Kick in quick. But you'll be glad you did it after. 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.600 I used to always say I could do is if 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.400 my abs would pop pop pop pop while I crunched 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.240 when I crunch on a fredo. If I could crunch 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:09.720 on a fredo and the fat would pop, I could 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:12.720 stop with the fridos. But it is the delay that 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:18.160 gets me trapped. The consequence comes. 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:22.560 After after somebody shout. 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:27.080 After It's the most amazing thing. What the devil will 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:31.120 hide from you when he tempts you. It's an amazing thing. 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.240 What he'll bait that hook with that you don't see 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:37.399 when you bite. It is not until after you are 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:41.439 hooked that this isn't so fun anymore. It's not until 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:43.879 after you can't get rid of the habit that you 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.080 wish you had found in a healthier way to deal with 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:49.320 your emotions. And this is why we must teach in 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.120 church not only the deliverance of the Holy Spirit, but 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.159 the disciplines of the grace of God, so that we 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:01.359 can help people make decisions today that they will be 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:03.800 glad for after. 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:07.399 I want you to pray to God after you fail. 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.240 But I also want you to pray to God before 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.520 you fail, so that maybe he can spare you some 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:17.119 of the pain. That you could put something in his 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:19.960 hands before you get caught in it, so that God 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:22.639 could spare you from some of the wasted years. And 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:25.159 this is not even in my notes, but I just 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:26.960 feel like I need to go off for a minute 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:31.560 and say, sometimes we create our own suffering because of 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:34.840 shortcuts that we take because of how we want to 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:38.280 feel right now. But I heard a wise preacher say, 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:42.000 never give up what you want most for what you want. 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:45.280 Now, because there are some things you. 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:47.680 Want to be in the future that are going to 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:51.320 require some adjustments to what you need to do right now. 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:58.399 Even some of the scriptures that you hear in some 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:03.280 of the messages you hear that will challenge you the most, 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:10.040 will help you the most after now. I want in 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:13.680 my life not only to get better at tracking back 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:18.840 and noticing what happens in those moments where I feel 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:20.960 under attacked. I mean, if you will look at your 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:24.480 life and I did it this week, you'll find patterns 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:27.520 of this is the times where the enemy attacks me. 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:31.520 That if I build some different things into these rhythms 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:34.879 of my life, I can be more ready. And I 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:37.080 think our rhythms and our readiness go hand in hand. 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:43.440 The rhythm of your life cannot be marked by isolation 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:53.200 and still be flowing in victory. The rhythm of your 0:23:53.240 --> 0:24:01.040 life cannot be marked by constant, chronic complaining and still 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:08.560 have an outcome of overflowing joy. And the enemy is 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:15.240 look at this phrase. He's looking for someone to devour. 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:21.439 He's looking for someone who's not paying attention. He's looking 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:25.920 for someone who just took family pictures and is just 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:28.320 a little thankful for their family and just a little 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:29.600 bit triggered by the holy experience. 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:31.760 Because it really went good. Everybody was good. I don't 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:33.320 even know why I was in a bad mode. It 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:36.560 went great, the photographers were great, it was happy. It's 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:38.840 just something about it. And then I look at it 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:40.320 and I'm like, okay, okay, okay. 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:42.720 Next year when we take family pictures, I am not 0:24:42.800 --> 0:24:45.040 going to back up my car and almost fight any rednecks. 0:24:45.040 --> 0:24:48.520 Okay next year, No, no, no, next time. 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:53.840 Next time I find myself susceptible, I am going to 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:56.119 feed my spirit and talk to myself and be a 0:24:56.160 --> 0:24:57.240 little bit more ready for that. 0:24:58.840 --> 0:24:59.520 And all of that. 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:01.159 You can do so if you will just take some 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:03.560 time in your life and especially do it after your 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:05.919 only two times. You need to do this after you 0:25:06.000 --> 0:25:11.600 win and after you lose. When you win over a victory, 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:13.679 say what was it that got me ready for that? 0:25:13.800 --> 0:25:13.960 Y'all? 0:25:14.040 --> 0:25:16.879 I got certain friends that I found out when I 0:25:16.920 --> 0:25:18.080 talked to them, I win more. 0:25:20.960 --> 0:25:25.159 You got anybody like that in your life? Now, let 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:26.760 me turn around so you can have a private moment. 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:28.080 I have other friends. 0:25:29.640 --> 0:25:32.040 Who when I talk to them and spend time with them, 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:34.360 it puts me in this spend cycle and I don't 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:36.000 know why, but I've end up more cynical on the 0:25:36.000 --> 0:25:36.680 other side. 0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:40.159 Pay attention to all of that, because sometimes in your. 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:44.040 Life you'll notice, oh, when this happens, it is the 0:25:44.200 --> 0:25:47.640 consequence of something that came before it, And a lot 0:25:47.680 --> 0:25:50.960 of times that is a relational consequence of who you 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:55.200 are spending the most time around. Here's another thing about 0:25:55.240 --> 0:26:00.320 since you asked me about Instagram. Sometimes you feel to 0:26:00.359 --> 0:26:04.240 your stomach, but it's not your stomach. It's what you 0:26:04.400 --> 0:26:08.760 scrolled through fifteen minutes ago that made you judge something, 0:26:08.880 --> 0:26:11.919 feel something, see something that triggered a response in you. 0:26:12.840 --> 0:26:14.840 But at the moment that it was triggered, it didn't 0:26:14.880 --> 0:26:17.199 show up. It doesn't show up in the moment that 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:18.520 you see it. It shows up. 0:26:20.200 --> 0:26:21.120 After. 0:26:22.000 --> 0:26:23.879 If the moment you were looking at this stuff, you 0:26:23.920 --> 0:26:26.040 were like, this is making me more judgmental and less content, 0:26:26.080 --> 0:26:28.040 and this is causing me to kill my own appreciation 0:26:28.119 --> 0:26:29.840 for my own life and only as. 0:26:29.720 --> 0:26:31.560 Fire to things that aren't even a part of my calling. 0:26:31.760 --> 0:26:33.639 If you thought that while you were looking at it, 0:26:33.640 --> 0:26:35.000 you would stop looking at it. 0:26:35.280 --> 0:26:40.760 But the devil hides the hook. The devil hides the hook. 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:45.639 The devil hides the hook. Somebody say, the devil hides 0:26:45.720 --> 0:26:50.160 the hook. Now touch somebody and say stop biting. How 0:26:50.200 --> 0:26:53.280 many times is he going to have to reel you 0:26:53.400 --> 0:26:55.160 in before. 0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:58.639 You resist him, before you can see it coming, and 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:00.640 say no, I'm not even gonna take the bait. 0:27:01.240 --> 0:27:03.320 I don't even get paid to argue with you. 0:27:04.040 --> 0:27:08.240 I don't even nobody is worth that in my life. 0:27:08.560 --> 0:27:09.879 I'm not coming down. 0:27:09.640 --> 0:27:13.880 There for this anymore, because if you don't see it, 0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:20.360 he will eat you alive. He's looking for someone to devour, 0:27:21.920 --> 0:27:24.600 and the one he can devour the most is the 0:27:24.600 --> 0:27:29.720 one who is vulnerable and doesn't know it. When you 0:27:29.800 --> 0:27:33.119 know you're vulnerable. It gives you an opportunity to be 0:27:33.240 --> 0:27:40.119 vigilant when you know where you're vulnerable. And so this 0:27:40.160 --> 0:27:42.520 great Apostle writes a letter to the church that's being 0:27:42.560 --> 0:27:46.560 persecuted somewhere between eighty sixty and seventy, and he's writing 0:27:46.560 --> 0:27:48.439 to them about their sufferings and their time, but it 0:27:48.480 --> 0:27:52.320 also applies to ours. He says, be alert and sober minded, 0:27:53.520 --> 0:27:58.160 because the enemy is looking for someone. 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:03.320 To devour. Is it you? Is it you? 0:28:06.240 --> 0:28:13.080 Have you trained him that anytime he tries that you'll 0:28:13.080 --> 0:28:15.160 lie down and go with it. That anytime he takes 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:18.440 you down that dark path, all he has. 0:28:18.359 --> 0:28:21.360 To do is lure you out there? Is it you? 0:28:24.040 --> 0:28:26.160 Is it you that every time he can even suggest 0:28:26.640 --> 0:28:30.080 an anxious thought to you, the enemy can get you 0:28:30.119 --> 0:28:31.760 to go down so deep in it that it's going 0:28:31.800 --> 0:28:33.119 to take you three days to recover. 0:28:33.240 --> 0:28:35.280 Is it you that if he. 0:28:35.240 --> 0:28:38.400 Can make you a little uncomfortable about something, you will 0:28:38.440 --> 0:28:40.960 reach for something to feel instant relief that is going 0:28:41.000 --> 0:28:47.600 to bring you an after effect that's going to cause 0:28:47.600 --> 0:28:49.800 you to be in captivity? 0:28:49.880 --> 0:28:52.560 Is it you? Is it you? 0:28:52.960 --> 0:28:55.440 If you're not paying attention to the patterns in your life. 0:28:56.280 --> 0:29:02.360 You are easy pray for the enemy. You gotta get 0:29:02.360 --> 0:29:06.720 into spirit lad reflection, where the Holy Spirit takes you 0:29:06.760 --> 0:29:09.840 back through your day and shows you ways that you 0:29:09.880 --> 0:29:13.120 can handle things next time. Not so you can blame 0:29:13.160 --> 0:29:14.760 what happened in your day or in your life, but 0:29:14.840 --> 0:29:18.719 so that you can beat it next time, because there 0:29:18.760 --> 0:29:23.160 will be a next time. There will be a next time. 0:29:24.840 --> 0:29:27.600 If the devil hadn't messed with you, good news. You 0:29:27.640 --> 0:29:29.960 can practice this message. Very soon. 0:29:31.480 --> 0:29:33.480 He'll mess with you again. You're like, I don't I 0:29:33.560 --> 0:29:35.160 know that he's just been leaving me alone. I don't 0:29:35.160 --> 0:29:40.080 really need this message. 0:29:40.440 --> 0:29:43.840 Keep this message right there, like, don't put it in 0:29:43.880 --> 0:29:45.840 the fridge, because it's just you gonna need it. You 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:49.920 could leave it right there. It's gonna be right there soon. 0:29:52.840 --> 0:30:00.479 He's looking for someone to devour. He's looking for somebody, 0:30:01.360 --> 0:30:05.560 somebody who's vulnerable. You got to ask the question, don't 0:30:05.560 --> 0:30:11.440 you what came before this attack that caused me to 0:30:11.480 --> 0:30:15.520 be in a vulnerable position. That's a great question to ask. 0:30:16.880 --> 0:30:18.560 And the more you ask it, I believe, the more 0:30:18.640 --> 0:30:20.600 that God will show you and give you an awareness 0:30:20.640 --> 0:30:23.160 and an alertness. Because you can't prevent the attack, but 0:30:23.200 --> 0:30:28.440 you can plan for it after. I don't usually respond 0:30:28.520 --> 0:30:30.480 right in the moment, but it's when I go back 0:30:30.520 --> 0:30:32.240 and ask the question, God, what do you want me 0:30:32.320 --> 0:30:35.920 to see about that that I can know next time? 0:30:36.880 --> 0:30:37.720 And that's how I grow. 0:30:39.000 --> 0:30:43.880 It's not fancy, I know, it's not amazing, it's not sexy, 0:30:44.720 --> 0:30:45.920 but it's what Peter said. 0:30:45.960 --> 0:30:48.680 He said, be alert and a sober mind. Your enemy. 0:30:48.760 --> 0:30:52.720 The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking. 0:30:53.880 --> 0:31:02.120 For someone. Who's he looking for someone? Someone he can devour? 0:31:03.440 --> 0:31:06.600 And you got to ask the question, don't you If 0:31:06.600 --> 0:31:09.280 the enemy is attacking me right now? How is he 0:31:09.360 --> 0:31:12.160 attacking me? When does he tend to attack me? I 0:31:12.200 --> 0:31:14.200 want to be alert to this. I don't want to 0:31:14.240 --> 0:31:17.440 be ignorant of his schemes. When does he attack me? 0:31:17.800 --> 0:31:20.240 How does he attack me? What are those access points 0:31:20.280 --> 0:31:22.360 where I let him get to me? What are the things? 0:31:22.560 --> 0:31:26.160 And that is a valid question, and we have to 0:31:26.320 --> 0:31:28.560 ask it or we'll keep repeating. 0:31:28.080 --> 0:31:29.200 The same patterns. 0:31:30.520 --> 0:31:33.080 But there's another question I want you to start asking, 0:31:34.640 --> 0:31:36.840 and I want you to ask this question right after 0:31:36.960 --> 0:31:40.480 you ask where is the enemy attacking me? Because you 0:31:40.480 --> 0:31:42.480 can mention a few areas today I know you could 0:31:42.680 --> 0:31:44.520 if we passed the mic around and you were honest 0:31:44.520 --> 0:31:46.560 and weren't scared to be in judge, you could name 0:31:46.600 --> 0:31:47.120 a few. 0:31:46.920 --> 0:31:49.280 Places he attacks you. They might be some. 0:31:49.320 --> 0:31:52.240 Areas that are more socially acceptable, or they might be 0:31:52.280 --> 0:31:55.440 some areas that cost shame. But you could answer the question. 0:31:55.520 --> 0:31:57.720 And if I asked it, where is it that the 0:31:57.840 --> 0:32:02.240 enemy attacks you? And what usually comes before it that 0:32:02.360 --> 0:32:05.160 causes you to give into it, that makes you weak 0:32:05.240 --> 0:32:05.560 for it? 0:32:05.600 --> 0:32:08.440 What is that? But there's another question that I want 0:32:08.480 --> 0:32:10.160 you to learn to ask, and I think this is 0:32:10.400 --> 0:32:11.600 also very powerful. 0:32:12.680 --> 0:32:16.560 If the enemy is attacking you as much as he's 0:32:16.600 --> 0:32:20.440 attacking you in your life, I want to ask the. 0:32:20.440 --> 0:32:31.200 Question, what is it about you that he knows that 0:32:31.360 --> 0:32:33.320 is causing him to attack you like that? 0:32:36.840 --> 0:32:41.320 If he's looking for someone to devour and he's picking 0:32:41.400 --> 0:32:47.400 on you, then what is it about you that causes 0:32:47.440 --> 0:32:52.120 you to be a target? In other words, how many 0:32:52.160 --> 0:32:54.200 of you feel like the devil has just really been 0:32:54.240 --> 0:32:56.760 after you or someone that you love in this last season? 0:32:56.960 --> 0:32:59.160 And this is not a trick question. I really want 0:32:59.200 --> 0:33:00.960 to see who to aim this spit at when I 0:33:00.960 --> 0:33:05.240 appreciate it. I want to know if the enemy is 0:33:05.280 --> 0:33:11.680 attacking you like that? What is he after? What is 0:33:11.720 --> 0:33:20.120 it that God has inside of you that may even 0:33:20.200 --> 0:33:24.320 be unknown to you right now that he sees about 0:33:24.360 --> 0:33:27.360 your future that is causing him. 0:33:27.200 --> 0:33:28.840 To fight you so hard like that? 0:33:31.240 --> 0:33:34.520 What is this spirit of heaviness that's been on you lately? 0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:37.920 Really about? See? Because I know on the surface we. 0:33:37.920 --> 0:33:41.520 Tell ourselves, well, the reason I'm depressed is because I 0:33:41.720 --> 0:33:44.320 just suck, because I'm not much, because I don't have 0:33:44.400 --> 0:33:47.080 the resilience, I don't have the fortitude, I don't have. 0:33:47.040 --> 0:33:50.160 The moral character. That's why I'm dealing with this insecurity? 0:33:50.320 --> 0:33:52.520 Is it? 0:33:52.560 --> 0:33:55.600 Is that why you're dealing with the insecurity because you're 0:33:55.600 --> 0:33:57.280 really a nobody? 0:33:58.360 --> 0:34:00.720 Or is the devil looking for someone. 0:34:03.000 --> 0:34:07.480 Someone who has something, something that they don't see the 0:34:07.560 --> 0:34:13.000 true value of yet, so that he can catch you 0:34:13.719 --> 0:34:19.080 in your vulnerability, so that you never see your true value, 0:34:19.120 --> 0:34:20.240 so that you never. 0:34:20.160 --> 0:34:24.280 Do what God gave you to do in the earth? 0:34:27.880 --> 0:34:33.920 What's the after? What's the after? If you've been. 0:34:33.840 --> 0:34:37.759 Discouraged, really discouraged and down in your soul lately and 0:34:37.800 --> 0:34:41.000 you've been thinking that must mean that my bestness behind me? 0:34:41.239 --> 0:34:47.440 Is that really true? Or is there something I'm just curious. 0:34:48.600 --> 0:34:54.680 Is there something so significant in the next stage of 0:34:54.800 --> 0:35:02.200 your life and you can't see it? But maybe the 0:35:02.520 --> 0:35:05.680 enemy has more vision for your life than you do, 0:35:06.320 --> 0:35:09.080 because he sees something that's in you. 0:35:09.520 --> 0:35:12.880 In the scene form. And if it ever comes forward, 0:35:14.040 --> 0:35:16.000 if it ever gets watered. 0:35:16.320 --> 0:35:19.520 If it ever gets l liked, if it ever gets 0:35:19.560 --> 0:35:23.400 full grown, it's gonna spread out and bear fruit and 0:35:23.560 --> 0:35:25.920 touch lines and change the world. 0:35:28.800 --> 0:35:29.680 What's he after? 0:35:33.239 --> 0:35:36.399 Get real good at answering how the enemy's attacking. Well, 0:35:36.440 --> 0:35:38.799 you give me these headaches, Well, he's give me these 0:35:38.840 --> 0:35:42.359 problems on my job. Well he's surrounding me with these people. Well, 0:35:42.440 --> 0:35:46.239 nobody gives me credit. Okay, we can focus on how 0:35:46.280 --> 0:35:48.880 he's attacking you, or we can spend a minute and 0:35:48.920 --> 0:35:50.800 think about why. 0:35:51.800 --> 0:35:55.600 What is he after? In my life? 0:35:55.880 --> 0:36:01.239 The greatest seasons of temptation to quit, just before the 0:36:01.280 --> 0:36:06.600 most significant moments of breakthrough, I came to prop. 0:36:06.400 --> 0:36:10.040 Aside of somebody today. 0:36:10.800 --> 0:36:12.719 I don't care what has been before. 0:36:14.120 --> 0:36:16.400 I didn't come to preach about the God that you 0:36:16.520 --> 0:36:20.200 knew before. I didn't come to preach about the time 0:36:20.239 --> 0:36:23.840 you wasted last year. I didn't come to preach about 0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:26.440 how your week went last week is. 0:36:26.640 --> 0:36:30.520 Sunday morning, and I came with a message about the 0:36:30.600 --> 0:36:31.520 god of after. 0:36:39.560 --> 0:36:42.120 It's just a question, ask your neighbor, what's he after? 0:36:43.360 --> 0:36:44.440 What's he after? 0:36:44.800 --> 0:36:48.000 Because the enemy doesn't have unlimited artillery, So if he's 0:36:48.040 --> 0:36:50.719 coming at you and he shouldn't at you, that must 0:36:50.760 --> 0:36:54.600 mean you have something that he wants. That must mean 0:36:54.600 --> 0:36:58.480 that you have something of value. I've been to about 0:36:58.520 --> 0:37:01.560 ten Carolina Panthers game since I lived in Charlotte. 0:37:01.719 --> 0:37:03.040 Nobody ever tackled me. 0:37:05.800 --> 0:37:08.000 I guess I didn't have anything they wanted. 0:37:09.440 --> 0:37:11.319 I bet if I had that ball and I was 0:37:11.360 --> 0:37:14.680 on that field and I was headed towards something that could. 0:37:14.400 --> 0:37:17.880 Actually inflict damage on the opponent, I get tackled. 0:37:18.080 --> 0:37:21.200 I get hit. Some of us aren't getting hit because. 0:37:20.960 --> 0:37:24.800 We're not headed toward anything. But if you're headed towards something, 0:37:26.200 --> 0:37:29.040 I need three people in a Vand if you're handed 0:37:29.120 --> 0:37:34.759 towards something, if you're handed towards something, maybe. 0:37:34.480 --> 0:37:38.040 That's why he's been on your heels. Maybe that's why 0:37:38.160 --> 0:37:41.600 spit kind of rough. Maybe that's why is Ben kind 0:37:41.640 --> 0:37:45.200 of rocky. Maybe that's why that storm has been blowing. 0:37:45.680 --> 0:37:49.840 Because when I get to that stong knock out somebody 0:37:49.840 --> 0:37:56.040 who's like needs my life. 0:37:58.280 --> 0:38:01.200 I wonder what he's after. I wonder what your. 0:38:01.200 --> 0:38:04.360 Carrier that you're not even aware of yet. I wonder 0:38:04.400 --> 0:38:06.760 what you're gonna be talking about a year from now 0:38:07.080 --> 0:38:21.480 that you don't even not asking for yet. Woo. It's powerful, y'all, 0:38:23.280 --> 0:38:28.799 it's powerful. Has that devil been after you? We'll get 0:38:28.880 --> 0:38:33.319 happy because that means you have something worth attacking. 0:38:33.880 --> 0:38:37.640 That means it's not over for you. That means it's something. 0:38:40.520 --> 0:38:47.560 Oh oh oh, I'm gonna sup this. 0:38:51.920 --> 0:38:55.000 The devil sort of took you out before you heard 0:38:55.080 --> 0:38:58.000 this sermon, because after this, look. 0:38:58.080 --> 0:39:02.680 You're tack on track, backing up, fight, you're backing up. 0:39:04.560 --> 0:39:14.839 Hey, hey, hey, hey. 0:39:13.040 --> 0:39:19.680 No, we should have took a selfie before I started appreciating, 0:39:21.040 --> 0:39:22.720 so you could have a before picture. 0:39:25.239 --> 0:39:27.080 Because when you leave this church. 0:39:26.880 --> 0:39:31.080 Today, No, no, I gotta appreciate it like God gave 0:39:31.120 --> 0:39:31.440 it to me. 0:39:31.520 --> 0:39:33.239 I can't mess it up. I can't mess it up. 0:39:34.000 --> 0:39:37.759 And the God of all grace who called you to 0:39:38.400 --> 0:39:47.280 eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, 0:39:49.360 --> 0:39:51.359 set your timer for a minute flat. I set your 0:39:51.360 --> 0:39:53.720 timer for a minute, one minute, one minute on the timer, 0:39:53.760 --> 0:39:54.800 one minute on your phone. 0:39:54.880 --> 0:39:55.839 One minute on the. 0:39:55.760 --> 0:39:59.880 Timer, somebody say, after, after, after, tell me. 0:39:59.840 --> 0:40:01.719 What you got it set for one minute? For one minute. 0:40:01.760 --> 0:40:03.799 I want one minute. I want one minute. Peter uses 0:40:03.800 --> 0:40:05.680 a very very significant phrase. 0:40:05.719 --> 0:40:09.520 He says, after you have suffered a little while, somebody say, 0:40:09.560 --> 0:40:11.799 a little while, a little while? How many have you 0:40:11.840 --> 0:40:14.799 been suffering for a little while? Oh, it's been a while. 0:40:14.880 --> 0:40:16.839 It's been a while I've been dealing with this. It's 0:40:16.840 --> 0:40:18.160 been a while i've been dealing with this. 0:40:18.440 --> 0:40:20.360 It's been a while that I felt like this. He 0:40:20.440 --> 0:40:23.239 still hadn't started his timer yet. He's about to start 0:40:23.280 --> 0:40:24.080 it in a minute. 0:40:24.360 --> 0:40:28.640 Sometimes it's prolonged suffering, right. Sometimes you ask the question 0:40:28.840 --> 0:40:30.160 like I asked the Lord one time. 0:40:30.200 --> 0:40:33.560 I read that scripture. It said in a little while, after. 0:40:33.280 --> 0:40:35.360 You've suffered a little while, I asked God. 0:40:35.280 --> 0:40:39.719 How long is a little while? So I want one 0:40:39.760 --> 0:40:42.080 minute on the timer. That's an hour. 0:40:42.920 --> 0:40:46.480 I need a minute. We have a different definition of 0:40:46.520 --> 0:40:47.200 a little while. 0:40:47.760 --> 0:40:50.920 I need the countdown timer, not the count up timer. 0:40:51.000 --> 0:40:53.480 I need the alarm where it's going to go off 0:40:53.880 --> 0:40:56.919 in a minute. Because God gave me something to say 0:40:56.960 --> 0:40:59.279 to somebody, and I don't know who it is. We 0:40:59.320 --> 0:41:01.520 got fifty seconds left now. 0:41:01.560 --> 0:41:05.160 Not all suffering ends in a short time, but there 0:41:05.280 --> 0:41:07.800 is a decision that you can make in a moment 0:41:08.400 --> 0:41:11.000 where you can say, you know what, I have stayed 0:41:11.120 --> 0:41:14.080 stuck in this season long enough. 0:41:15.280 --> 0:41:21.040 I have replayed this memory long enough, I have laid 0:41:21.080 --> 0:41:26.720 down and died twenty eight long enough. And Peter says 0:41:26.760 --> 0:41:31.480 that after you have suffered a little while, just a 0:41:31.520 --> 0:41:35.520 little while, it's just a little while. It's only for now. 0:41:35.920 --> 0:41:38.680 I know it seems like forever when you're going through it. 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:43.879 But ten seconds, nine seconds, eight seconds, seven. 0:41:43.640 --> 0:41:47.960 Seconds, six y five. Hold be real quiet, be real quiet. 0:41:52.200 --> 0:41:58.800 Oh, his ringer is off. 0:41:58.840 --> 0:42:05.080 You are the worst illustration and partners, all right. 0:42:06.400 --> 0:42:08.600 So since his alarm filled, I need you to help me. 0:42:08.800 --> 0:42:09.880 I'm gonna need you to help me. 0:42:10.239 --> 0:42:12.680 Since his ringer was on silent, I'm gonna need you 0:42:12.760 --> 0:42:15.480 to be the alarm for your neighbor. I'm gonna need 0:42:15.480 --> 0:42:17.120 you to be the alarm for your neighbor. 0:42:17.200 --> 0:42:20.560 Stand out, stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up, 0:42:20.600 --> 0:42:22.520 stand up. We're getting ready now. We're getting ready. 0:42:22.320 --> 0:42:24.560 Now because it's been a minute for some of you, 0:42:24.920 --> 0:42:26.840 it's been a minute since you felt the joy of 0:42:26.880 --> 0:42:29.480 the Lord it's been a minute since you've seen yourself 0:42:29.480 --> 0:42:32.000 in the future. It's been a minute since you've opened 0:42:32.000 --> 0:42:34.759 yourself up to a new possibility. But I want you 0:42:34.840 --> 0:42:37.040 to look at your neighbor when I say three, I 0:42:37.080 --> 0:42:39.120 want you to look at your neighbor and say, it's 0:42:39.160 --> 0:42:43.000 been a minute. One, two, three, it's been a minute. 0:42:43.120 --> 0:42:43.680 But guess what. 0:42:44.520 --> 0:42:47.000 Look back at them and say it has been a minute. 0:42:48.239 --> 0:42:52.160 Tell him it's been kind of hard. I've been crying 0:42:52.200 --> 0:42:56.600 about it. I've been stressing about it. I got a 0:42:56.640 --> 0:43:00.200 lot of questions about it, and I'm not exp in 0:43:00.280 --> 0:43:03.920 a quick fix. But tell him it's been a minute. 0:43:04.960 --> 0:43:14.480 And this is my after. This is oh God, my after. 0:43:15.200 --> 0:43:19.120 This is my after. 0:43:19.320 --> 0:43:21.840 Watch. No, the problem's not over yet. 0:43:22.200 --> 0:43:22.600 But my. 0:43:25.000 --> 0:43:33.800 It's our set. My that's a sets, our set. 0:43:40.080 --> 0:43:46.759 This is my after not when I'm perfect. But I've 0:43:46.880 --> 0:43:52.920 suffered enough to know now that he's the god. 0:43:52.719 --> 0:44:04.600 Of Who better to teach us this than Peter Peter? 0:44:06.400 --> 0:44:09.320 Why would the enemy pick on Peter? He wasn't anything 0:44:09.360 --> 0:44:14.880 but a fisherman. The devil never attacks what you are 0:44:15.000 --> 0:44:25.520 right now, He attacks what you're gonna be. 0:44:28.120 --> 0:44:29.160 That's what he's after. 0:44:30.600 --> 0:44:33.840 Because wait till you see what your kids are gonna be, 0:44:34.320 --> 0:44:38.000 that's what he's after. Wait till you see what they're 0:44:38.040 --> 0:44:41.840 gonna do, that's what he's after. Wait till you see 0:44:41.880 --> 0:44:46.240 how the grace of God flows through you generationally. 0:44:46.960 --> 0:44:51.920 That's what he's after. The Bible says that. 0:44:51.960 --> 0:44:54.640 A righteous man walks in his integrity. 0:44:54.800 --> 0:44:58.320 You gotta see this from Proverbs twenty seven. I saw this, and. 0:44:58.239 --> 0:45:02.800 His children are list after him. 0:45:03.360 --> 0:45:04.200 You didn't get it. 0:45:04.640 --> 0:45:07.600 Some of the stuff you're fighting right now is not 0:45:07.719 --> 0:45:09.520 about what you are right now. 0:45:09.960 --> 0:45:19.520 It's about what's coming after you. Shout after. 0:45:21.800 --> 0:45:27.640 So even as Peter was warming himself by the fire, 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:36.440 denying Christ, even as Peter was denying that he even 0:45:36.520 --> 0:45:43.120 knew Jesus, even as Peter was doubting that he wanted 0:45:43.120 --> 0:45:56.880 to be a disciple, the enemy was after him because 0:45:56.880 --> 0:46:00.000 if he can kill Peter and take his faith by 0:45:59.880 --> 0:46:00.399 the fire. 0:46:02.040 --> 0:46:03.000 Peter never preaches. 0:46:03.040 --> 0:46:09.840 On the day of Pentecost, three thousand were saved that day. 0:46:11.640 --> 0:46:20.880 After the suffer a little while, after you suffer a 0:46:20.920 --> 0:46:26.040 little while. That's what the attack is about. Stop thinking 0:46:26.280 --> 0:46:31.160 that the things that you struggle with prove your insignificance. 0:46:33.080 --> 0:46:41.800 They actually point to your value. 0:46:46.120 --> 0:46:48.120 So we're going to change the trigger response. 0:46:48.160 --> 0:46:52.560 This week, something bad starts coming to you as a 0:46:52.560 --> 0:46:56.920 feeling or a temptation. Oh, there must be something that 0:46:56.960 --> 0:47:00.960 the enemy is after that I'm meant to do this week. 0:47:01.120 --> 0:47:04.440 A lot of it. You will never know it while 0:47:04.480 --> 0:47:10.080 you're in it. That's what your faith is for. That's 0:47:10.120 --> 0:47:15.120 what your faith is for. We never know how God 0:47:15.200 --> 0:47:17.000 is using us or what He's doing in the moment. 0:47:17.280 --> 0:47:20.759 Most specifically, there are some of the things that you 0:47:20.840 --> 0:47:26.200 will not feel in the moment that you will, by faith, 0:47:26.480 --> 0:47:35.560 experience in the future if you resist the enemy. Because 0:47:35.600 --> 0:47:39.359 I'm telling you I have stood many times to pray 0:47:39.400 --> 0:47:43.000 with people and preach to people who had little faith, 0:47:44.800 --> 0:47:49.279 and it had been worn down to a nub, and 0:47:49.320 --> 0:47:52.200 in the moment that we prayed, we experienced nothing resembling 0:47:52.200 --> 0:47:53.440 the feeling of a breakthrough. 0:47:55.080 --> 0:47:58.000 We only knew after. 0:47:59.400 --> 0:48:03.520 A little while what God would do, And sometimes trusting 0:48:03.560 --> 0:48:06.960 Him with that timeline called a little while is the 0:48:07.000 --> 0:48:07.960 hardest part of all. 0:48:13.120 --> 0:48:13.440 I was. 0:48:18.200 --> 0:48:20.359 I was back after preaching different song I don't want 0:48:20.360 --> 0:48:28.680 that one. It was I don't remember what city, maybe 0:48:28.680 --> 0:48:33.640 in Denver, that they brought back a guy to pray 0:48:33.680 --> 0:48:37.960 with me, and they said his seven year old has 0:48:38.040 --> 0:48:40.879 a They explained the condition to me at the time. 0:48:40.920 --> 0:48:43.400 I didn't really even understand everything they were saying, and 0:48:43.480 --> 0:48:46.520 I'm not really good at explaining medical things, but they 0:48:47.560 --> 0:48:51.120 his brain tissue. The seven year old, his brain tissue 0:48:51.239 --> 0:48:55.880 had extended into a spinal column, and they diagnosed that 0:48:56.280 --> 0:48:58.600 a few years earlier, but then assists developed in the 0:48:58.600 --> 0:49:02.040 spinal column, so then that was something that would be 0:49:02.040 --> 0:49:04.200 life threatening but would be operated on when he. 0:49:04.120 --> 0:49:04.960 Was a little bit older. 0:49:05.000 --> 0:49:08.080 So now they had just taken them in for a 0:49:08.120 --> 0:49:12.080 scan and they were going back in two days to 0:49:12.120 --> 0:49:15.080 get the meeting with the specialist and maybe schedule the surgery. 0:49:16.680 --> 0:49:20.400 So in the meantime, they came to Elevation Nights and 0:49:20.440 --> 0:49:22.360 someone brought them over and said pray for them, would you? 0:49:22.440 --> 0:49:24.759 Their son is having surgery, and I said I will, 0:49:24.880 --> 0:49:27.120 and I learned as much as I could learn in 0:49:27.120 --> 0:49:28.040 that short time and pray. 0:49:29.440 --> 0:49:31.280 I don't even really remember praying the prayer. 0:49:32.440 --> 0:49:35.880 But the dad that I prayed for, he just last 0:49:35.880 --> 0:49:38.480 week told me the end of the story that I 0:49:38.520 --> 0:49:42.520 didn't know. He said, when you prayed for us back there, 0:49:43.480 --> 0:49:46.600 he said, I did not even want for you to 0:49:46.640 --> 0:49:51.960 pray for me. It made me angry that you were 0:49:51.960 --> 0:49:56.319 praying because you didn't know our situation. And how dare 0:49:56.360 --> 0:49:58.880 you say a prayer that God would heal our child 0:49:59.560 --> 0:50:03.919 when you don't even though the situation. And he said, 0:50:03.920 --> 0:50:05.960 but whatever little bit of faith was left in me, 0:50:06.080 --> 0:50:09.239 and whatever faith was in my wife, it kicked a 0:50:09.239 --> 0:50:12.560 little bit when you prayed. Two days later, we went 0:50:12.560 --> 0:50:17.400 to our appointment and the doctor brought the scan. The 0:50:17.400 --> 0:50:38.520 specialists said, so, when did you have the surgery. He said, 0:50:38.520 --> 0:50:40.319 we haven't had the surgery. That's why we're here to 0:50:40.320 --> 0:50:42.480 talk to you about possibly scheduling the surgery. 0:50:42.480 --> 0:50:43.560 But we need to see the scan. 0:50:45.120 --> 0:50:48.600 And he held up the scan, and he held up 0:50:49.200 --> 0:50:53.440 the scan from the cyst, and then he held up 0:50:53.440 --> 0:50:57.160 the scan from a few days ago, and he said. 0:50:56.840 --> 0:51:02.480 This one, this one, this is the one. 0:51:01.880 --> 0:51:05.640 Of what it would should look like if there were 0:51:05.640 --> 0:51:08.319 a perfectly executed surgery. 0:51:08.480 --> 0:51:11.239 This is what it would look like. 0:51:15.840 --> 0:51:28.239 This if it were a perfectly executed surgery, this is 0:51:28.280 --> 0:51:29.600 what the picture would look like. 0:51:33.920 --> 0:51:35.759 And he told me, I didn't even want you to 0:51:35.800 --> 0:51:40.040 pray for me, and I didn't really feel anything when 0:51:40.080 --> 0:51:43.400 you prayed. But when we went back. 0:51:45.120 --> 0:51:52.040 After, I know you don't even feel like praying about 0:51:52.040 --> 0:51:57.040 that thing anymore. Sometimes I know you don't really feel 0:51:57.040 --> 0:51:59.280 like going and trying to get this thing under control 0:51:59.320 --> 0:52:01.640 one more time. I'm not saying that everybody with the 0:52:01.719 --> 0:52:04.399 disease can expect a different report next week. I don't 0:52:04.400 --> 0:52:06.040 have the power to say that, but I can tell 0:52:06.080 --> 0:52:13.719 you this. He's the God of all grace. He's the 0:52:13.719 --> 0:52:20.000 God of all grace. So if you need a healing 0:52:20.040 --> 0:52:23.120 and he gives you the grace for healing, that's wonderful. 0:52:24.280 --> 0:52:27.560 But if he gives you the grace to endure the suffering, 0:52:28.840 --> 0:52:35.080 that's wonderful too. He's the God of all grace, and 0:52:35.120 --> 0:52:39.680 he's the God of after No matter how many times 0:52:39.719 --> 0:52:43.920 Peter denied Christ, it could not outrun the revelation that 0:52:44.000 --> 0:52:48.719 He had. You are Peter, and upon this rock I 0:52:48.800 --> 0:52:54.120 will build my church. Has the enemy been attacking your 0:52:54.160 --> 0:52:59.239 mind lately? He is after the ideas that God is 0:52:59.320 --> 0:53:01.600 going to give you in the future to make this 0:53:01.719 --> 0:53:03.760 world so much more like heaven honor. 0:53:04.719 --> 0:53:09.240 That's what he's after. Now. 0:53:09.280 --> 0:53:15.800 Faith is standing right in the middle of it, even 0:53:15.800 --> 0:53:18.160 as you don't know how long a little while may be, 0:53:19.280 --> 0:53:24.040 and knowing that after this there will be more grace. 0:53:25.960 --> 0:53:33.800 It's not over for you. God is not through with you. Father. 0:53:34.120 --> 0:53:37.359 As I have released your word today, I have since 0:53:37.560 --> 0:53:42.640 virtue going forth and flowing to your people. There are 0:53:42.680 --> 0:53:48.360 specific situations, specific names and needs diagnosies. There is a 0:53:48.560 --> 0:53:51.320 very certain thing that you wanted to say to somebody today, 0:53:52.360 --> 0:53:55.239 and I pray that you have echoed that Now. I 0:53:55.280 --> 0:53:58.480 ask God that your Holy Spirit would make the direct 0:53:58.560 --> 0:54:04.399 application so that it can go deep into their soul. Lord, 0:54:04.440 --> 0:54:06.880 they may never know what comes after this season of 0:54:06.880 --> 0:54:10.640 struggle if they don't stand firm, But if they can 0:54:10.640 --> 0:54:16.160 make it through this, then God of all grace, who 0:54:16.160 --> 0:54:19.800 has called them to eternal glory after they have suffered 0:54:20.800 --> 0:54:24.040 a little while, will himself make them strong. 0:54:25.520 --> 0:54:25.719 Hey. 0:54:25.760 --> 0:54:28.120 I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, 0:54:28.640 --> 0:54:31.239 make sure to share it and subscribe so we can 0:54:31.280 --> 0:54:33.880 get you all of these new messages as soon as 0:54:33.880 --> 0:54:36.680 they're available. I also want to take a moment and 0:54:36.760 --> 0:54:38.560 thank all of you who are a part of Elevation. 0:54:39.040 --> 0:54:42.400 Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or 0:54:42.800 --> 0:54:45.520 just share these messages, it's because of you that we're 0:54:45.520 --> 0:54:47.960 able to reach people all around the world. 0:54:48.200 --> 0:54:50.680 And if you want more information, on how to be 0:54:50.719 --> 0:54:53.880 a part of Elevation. Click the link in the description. 0:54:54.440 --> 0:54:55.360 Thanks again for listening. 0:54:55.440 --> 0:54:58.799 Make sure to leave a review, share the message and subscribe. 0:54:59.080 --> 0:55:00.080 God bless you.